Say Their Names national initiative comes to TWU

June 6, 2022 — Denton — The Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach at Texas Woman’s University will host a Say Their Names Memorial for Juneteenth that will be on display at the TWU Gardens from Tuesday, June 16 through Monday, June 30. 

The memorial follows a nationwide initiative to honor Black lives lost to racial injustice, police brutality and racism. Joy Proctor started the effort in Portland, Oregon, on Juneteenth 2020, and memorials have been installed in more than 30 locations nationwide since then. 

“The purpose of this event is to bring awareness to the problem of Black people being disproportionately impacted and targeted by racialized violence,” said Simone Daniels, associate director of Diversity, Inclusion and Outreach at TWU. “We also hope it will spark meaningful dialog and will help people have those important conversations about systemic racism.”

Daniels got the idea by attending a similar event in Rockwall two years ago that was sponsored by Melissa Tate at Tate Farms. Daniels said Tate helped her pull together the photos that will be displayed throughout the gardens during TWU’s event.

TWU’s Say Their Names Memorial will carry the names and faces of 100 people whose lives have been lost due to racial violence on stake signs placed throughout the gardens along the sidewalks. The memorial is an important, powerful reminder of how much work we still have to do. 

TWU’s event will be free and open to the public for the duration of the pop-up installation.

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Page last updated 6:43 AM, July 30, 2024